Chad Refugees

• Photographer
  Marco Di Lauro, Italy
• Studio
  Reportage by Getty Images
• Website
  http://www.reportage-bygettyimages.com

Eastern Chad has a recent history of extreme violence, in addition to the Janjaweed attacks, the area is threatened by rebel groups fighting Chadian and Sudanese armies on Chadian territory. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR), issued reports of more than 200 people being killed by armed men on horseback in villages in the Kerfi area along the Chad-Sudan border just in the last week. Thousands of Chadian villagers have fled their villages to become IDP (Internally Displaced People) and arrive in the area of Goz Beida often leaving the injured behind due to lack of transport. According to official sources IDP numbers in Chad are around 100,000 and most are not receiving any external assistance as they are not entitled to the refugee status as set out by the United Nation.

Photojournalist Marco Di Lauro was born in Milan on 31 October 1970. He studied literature and philosophy at Milan State University, followed by journalism at Boston University and photography at the European Institute of Design in Milan.
Marco started his personal carrier in 1990s as a freelance photographer for New York Times, Usa Today, Der Spiegel and the Un World Food Programme. In 1997 he was one of the few photo-reporters on hand in Kosovo when the ethnic cleansing begins. Due to this experience, he enters in the staff of Associated Press, where he remained from 1998 to 2002.
During the Millennium, Marco worked ad a photo editor at the AP office in Rome while also being one of the key photographers covering Pope John Paul II.
In September 2002, Marco joined Getty Images covering international news stories in Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and Italy. He reported through his photos the major conflicts around the world, like the wars in Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, the second intifada between Israel and Palestine, Lebanon. Marcoâ??s main topics are war and religion.
In the last 10 years his pictures were published on the main international magazines, and he has won some of the most important photographic awards.